Smashing Pumpkins dropped a music video for their Monuments to an Elegy lead single, "Being Beige." The clip is centered around frontman Billy Corgan and images of nature, Pitchfork notes. The album, the band's ninth, came out in December.
"I don't love you for what it's worth," Corgan, the eternal charmer, sings into the camera. The frontman does some sort of interpretive dance throughout the video, uncomfortably staring down the viewer with some day-old stubble. The video is as weird as ever, but the tune has a very contemporary feel to it. It's a hard-hitting power ballad driven by Corgan's growling vocals. Check it out below.
Monuments to an Elegy hit 33 on the Billboard 200 and five on the Top Rock Albums charts. The effort received generally positive reviews.
"For all his world-is-a-vampire nihilism of years past, Billy Corgan has been sounding shockingly well-adjusted lately. Still, the Great Pumpkin's deep dive into synth pop on Monuments to an Elegy - the latest installment in his band's multi-album cycle Teargarden by Kaleidyscope - is a surprise," Rolling Stone wrote.
Corgan updated fans on the album's progress in July, promising that work on the follow-up, Day for Night, would start at Monuments' completion. The lead singer went on to tell Billboard that the album would be the final installment in the Teargarden cycle. However, it could also be the band's final release as well.
"Honestly, I think the fanbase is gone," he said. "I would define a fan as someone who explores the depth of the artist's work, and allows the artist to show you something. It's not up to the artist to walk you by the hand. I don't think there are that many of those people who exist. I'd say they're in the low thousands."
